[growing your business]
Multiple Locations.............. Dr. Kevin Lenahan and The Spectacle are familiar names in Topeka. Aggressive advertising, focused branding and community involvement have all played a role in growing Lenahan’s business, but the biggest contributor to his expansion has been the addition of new locations. With three Topeka locations and stores in Lawrence, Tonganoxie and Lyndon, Lenahan enjoys wide name recognition and a large client base.
Seeing the Big Picture Lenahan always planned on having more than one location. He opened his doors inside the Walmart on Wanamaker in 1993. When the new Walmart opened on 37th street, he took a lease there as well. His next location opened in the new Super Target in Lawrence, and when the Super Targets came on line in Kansas City, he took those
locations as well. “At that time I was working seven days a week, pretty much 365 days a year,” Lenahan said. Target then went through some restructuring and Lenahan wasn’t sure that was the best place for him to be. “I guess I am just not a very good corporate person,” he admits. He pointed out some things he didn’t agree with at the corporate level and Target subsequently chose not to renew his lease. “That was fine with me,” Lenahan said. “It was part of the learning experience that business can be kind of brutal.” Also brutal was a 30-day window to find a new location, renovate it and open for business without interrupting patient schedules. Lenahan barely had the new location up and running before he was looking to buy another building in Topeka. “I saw the writing on the wall in the corporate environment,” he said. “That Target situation actually gave
“I would rather go down in a blaze of glory than never have tried. God gave me one horse to ride. I don’t know how fast that horse is, but I am going to ride it as hard and fast as I can until it throws me or it dies. I want to look back and say ‘I gave it everything I had.”’ - Dr. Kevin Lenahan 14
Winter 2012
TK...Topeka's Business Magazine